The big news for San Diego life sciences companies over the past week fell into two categories, raising money and winning regulatory approval. Either way, it’s all good news.

—Genomatica, which genetically engineers microorganisms to produce industrial chemicals from renewable raw materials, has applied to raise $100 million through an IPO. The proceeds would be used for research and development, capital projects and other purposes. Genomatica plans to produce commercial quantities of butanediol, used to make spandex and resilient plastics, by the end of 2012. The company also disclosed plans to make butadiene, one of the seven basic chemicals at the core of the chemical industry, and an important ingredient used to make products such as tires, engineering polymers and latex products.

—Tandem Diabetes Care has raised $12 million of a financing round that could eventually total nearly $13.7 million. Tandem Diabetes is waiting for the FDA to respond to its application to market its wearable insulin pump in the United States.

—Zogenix (NASDAQ: ZGNX) plans to raise roughly $50 million from a secondary offering of nearly 13.8 million new shares of its common stock. The company, which has developed a needle-free injection device, plans to use the proceeds as it seeks regulatory approval to sell its second therapeutic drug, an extended-release painkiller, and to begin clinical trials of its third drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

—Gen-Probe (NASDAQ: GPRO) said Canadian regulators approved a medical device license for a new molecular diagnostic device that tests whether a biopsy for prostate cancer is warranted. The company said it also won approval in Canada for another molecular diagnostic system that tests urine for the presence of chlamydia and gonorrhea.

—Apricus Biosciences (NASDAQ: APRI) said the FDA has cleared it to sell two reformulated over-the-counter drugs for topical treatments. The first was for Tolnaftate-D, a topical treatment for foot fungus that combines the tolnaftate used in existing products such as Tinactin and Lamisil with a proprietary compound that helps to increase absorption through the skin. The company also won FDA approval for Hydrocortisone-D, a reformulation of the over-the-counter anti-itch compound.

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With San Diego’s Optimer and Conatus Pharmaceuticals successfully raising capital, and Sanderling Ventures reportedly planning to raise a new fund, it would be easy to think that the capital markets are opening a little for the life sciences sector. You decide.

—San Diego’s Optimer Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: OPTR) completed a secondary public offering of 7.8 million shares, including all 900,000 shares granted to underwriters for overallotments. Optimer sold 6.9 million shares for $11.25 a piece in the offering announced last Thursday. The company raised aggregate gross proceeds of $77.6 million before expenses. Optimer has been developing a new antibiotic treatment for C. difficile, a potentially deadly intestinal infection.

—A former patent agent for San Diego-based Sequenom (NASDAQ: SQNM) and his brother pleaded guilty to federal charges of passing inside information about the genetic test maker to two Florida men who collected $646,000 from illegal stock trading, according to the FBI. Aaron Scalia of San Diego and his older brother Stephen Scalia of Baltimore, MD, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

—San Diego-based Conatus Pharmaceuticals closed on $20 million in an equity funding round led by AgeChem Venture Fund of Montreal. Conatus plans to use the proceeds to advance development of a new drug for treating hepatitis C.

—The San Diego-based West Wireless Health Institute named Ed Cantwell as a senior vice president, responsible for creating low-cost technology for delivering wireless health care in hospitals and other medical facilities. Cantwell was previously director of 3M’s wireless business and the founding chairman and CEO of Texas-based InnerWireless.

—San Diego’s Sanderling Ventures intends to raise a seventh fund, according to a report from PE Hub. The venture firm, which specializes in funding life sciences startups, raised $421 million for its previous fund in 2004.

—The number of IPOs in registration for U.S. exchanges increased to 121 at the end of 2010, according to a report from Ernst & Young. Among the 22 California companies waiting to go public are two San Diego life science companies: Ambit Biosciences and IASO Pharma.

—San Diego-based Genomatica signed a strategic agreement with Houston’s Waste Management to develop technology that can turn syngas into commercial chemical products. Landfills produce syngas, which is mostly carbon monoxide and hydrogen, as waste is broken down by exposure to high heat, pressure, and bacteria. Genomatica plans to create proprietary organisms and manufacturing processes that use syngas as the raw material for making certain industrial chemicals.

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Shares of Quidel (NASDAQ: QDEL), the San Diego diagnostic test maker, sank more than 8 percent on heavy volume today, after the company priced a secondary public offering of 4 million common shares at $13.15 a share. The company, which granted an additional 600,000 to the underwriter to cover over-allotments, says the closing of the offering is expected on or about Tuesday. Quidel’s share price fell by $1.20, or 8.3 percent, to close at $13.23 in trading of nearly 2.1 million shares—nearly 11 times the company’s recent average trading volume. Quidel, which has about 28 million shares outstanding, says it plans to use the proceeds for working capital and other purposes, including possible acquisitions.

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[Editor's Note: Updated in first graf at 8:10 a.m. on 6/23/09]

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. said today it priced its secondary offering at $6.50 a share, an almost 14 percent discount to yesterday’s closing price of $7.53 a share. The offering of 6.15 million shares raised $40 million, with Halozyme’s net proceeds amounting to $38.2 million.

In a statement issued late yesterday, San Diego-based Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ: HALO) says it plans to sell 5.2 million shares of its common stock tomorrow in a secondary public offering. Robert H. Uhl, Halozyme’s senior director of investor relations, told me the shares will be priced in the morning. The biotech has about 47.2 million shares of common stock outstanding. Its stock closed up a penny today at $7.53 a share in above-average trading volume. Halozyme specializes in developing and commercializing products targeting the extracellular matrix for the endocrinology, oncology, dermatology and drug delivery markets.

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San Diego’s Leap Wireless increased the size of its stock offering to 7 million shares today and priced it near the market close of $37.79 a share, enabling the affordable cell phone service provider to raise $264 million. Leap said yesterday it intended to offer 6.1 million shares. The company also priced its $1.1 billion debt offering at 7.75%.

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San Diego’s Maxwell Technologies (NASDAQ: MXWL) plans to raise $17.6 million by selling 2 million shares of its common stock through a secondary public offering underwritten by Roth Capital Partners of Newport Beach, CA. In a statement today, Maxwell says it is providing all of the stock in the offering, and the transaction is expected to close Friday. Maxwell said it plans to use the proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes.

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It was the best of times and worst of times for the life sciences in San Diego last week. Stalwarts Cadence Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals raised cash to expand their businesses, while La Jolla Pharmaceutical and 4-D Neuroimaging basically went in the opposite direction. Biofuels also were back in the news, along with the unmanned Predator surveillance aircraft, so read on!

—San Diego-based Histogen CEO Gail Naughton was the “mane” attraction when she presented preliminary results of a hair re-growth study last week at the 4th Annual Stem Cell Summit in New York. In early results from a five-month trial, Naughton says the biotech’s injectable ReGenica compound stimulated new hair growth in men after 12 weeks.

—Cadence Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CADX) said last week it’s raising $86.6 million in a private sale of 12 million shares, which will be used to build its sales force and to market its new drug candidate, Acetavance. The San Diego biotech is working on an application for FDA approval of the drug, which is a form of the painkiller acetaminophen (the main ingredient in Tylenol) developed for intravenous use in hospitals.

—Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), which has 200 employees in San Diego and 1,300 at its headquarters in Cambridge, MA, is raising $320 million in a secondary offering of stock. The biotech is in the final, extremely expensive phase of developing new drug candidates for treating hepatitis C and cystic fibrosis.

—In a subsequent interview, Vertex chief financial officer Ian Smith told Luke the offering also marks a shift to “blue-blood” investment firms that prefer … Next Page »

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